“We will change our date as often as we have to to remain the first-in-the-South primary,” state Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson told reporter Lee Bandy, who wrote about the possible move for The State newspaper.

One of the interesting things about the early Republican race for the nomination is the success former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has had in the polls. Simply put he’s killing everybody else. However South Carolina Republicans are famously hostile to politicians like Giuliani who lean left on social issues. South Carolina has also not exactly put out the welcome mat for the other early Republican favorite, Arizona Sen. John McCain. If someone other than Giuliani or McCain were to win an early South Carolina primary that would make it much tougher for either of the early favorites to ultimately win the nomination.